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Sunday, 20 July 2014

Have
you ever walked into a store and found the perfect find? It's an
awesome feeling, isn't it? I love it when I see something and I'm
immediately drawn to it. Well, it's happened twice for me this
weekend.

Every
Friday, I attend (and have hosted) a writing session at a Starbucks
in mid-town Toronto. For the past couple of weeks, I have seen a mug
sitting on one of the shelves. It made me smile every time I passed
it so, on my last visit to that Starbucks, I bought it.

Inscription on the mug:
Fresh-brewed inspiration for the day ahead.

As a
writer – a writer who makes herself a cup of tea before sitting
down to write –, the inscription on the mug is uncannily fitting.
When I showed it to my fellow writers sitting around the large table
with their laptops, they all agreed on how well it fit in with what
we were there for. While we don't always get a lot of writing done
(if any), we arrive with the intent to write. Most of the time, our
writing turns into four hours worth of procrastinating and immense
giggling. But, we always have a good time.

One of
my favourite stores to browse through is, Value Village. It is full
of gently used items, and every week there is are new items to be
discovered. I found the entire Chronicles of Narnia
book series at a location in Ajax for around $10. I was very happy.
Yesterday, my mom and I took a gander through the location in
Scarborough nearest where we live. I'm glad we did. We stopped by the
music rack, and I started looking through the vinyl LPs they had
there. I found five of them.

From
left to right: Top: Hair, Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music
(all Broadway Musical soundtracks).Bottom: The Kingston Trio, Once
Upon a Time (a live double
album), and Neil Diamond, Stones.

I
don't know many songs from the Neil Diamond album, but I cannot wait
to learn them. It does have one of my favourite songs of his though,
I Am, I Said. I have
never heard the Kingston Trio
album, but I will very soon. Hair
is a musical I wish to one day see, and now, I have the soundtrack on
vinyl! The Sound of Music
is one of my favourite films, and, even though I have the soundtrack
on CD, there is nothing quite like listening to music on vinyl.
Oklahoma! was an album
my father had a long time ago. About seven years ago, he decided to
throw his records away because we didn't have a turntable to play
them on. My mother and I both could have killed him. My mother,
because many of those albums had been hers, and me because I
thoroughly enjoyed listening to them. Oklahoma! was
one I played over and over and over again. But now, I have that
record in my possession once again.

Last
night, I listened to two of those records. Oklahoma! had
the honour of being played first. Good heavens, it brought back some
good memories. It had to refrain from singing too
loudly as my mother had gone to bed. Oh, and the record itself is in
amazing condition. The second album I played was, The Sound
of Music. Side one has a couple
of scratches that cause the record to skip forward a bit, but it's
tolerable. Side two, unfortunately, has two deeper scratches that
cause the record to repeat in parts. (This is why we tell someone
they sound like a broken record when they've repeated something many,
many times over.) Despite the flaws, I can't complain. The vinyls
were $2.00 and used. I can't wait to listen to Hair,
Stones, and Once Upon
a Time.

Oklahoma! being played on the turntable.

Acorn investigating the strange, twirly, sound-emulating thing.

For
me, the best finds are the ones that speak to you the minute you lay
your eyes on them. They whisper your name, wish you good day, and ask
to be your friend. Then, you pick them up, and realize they are
perfect for you. Have you ever walked into a store and found
something (or a few things) you felt was perfect for you? What was
it? How did those items make you feel? Let me know in the comments
below!